1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector fitting structure in which a pair of male and female connectors are fittingly connected together.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-49746, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, many electronic equipments are mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, and various cables for supplying electric power to these equipments and for controlling these equipments, as well as male and female connectors for connecting these cables, have been extensively used. Such male and female connectors have durability and a waterproof function so as to be suitably used in a severe environment, in which vibrations and submergence are encountered, and besides the male and female connectors are so constructed that a wire harness or the like can be easily attached to and detached from the connectors during an assembling process and at the time of maintenance.
One example of conventional connector fitting structures will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11. As shown in FIG. 8, a male connector (one connector) 60 of the connector fitting structure 51 includes an inner housing 62, which has terminal receiving chambers for respectively receiving a predetermined number of socket contacts, and is open to the front side thereof, and an outer housing 61 covering the outer periphery of the inner housing 62.
The outer housing 61 includes a slider receiving portion 63 for receiving a slider 70, and guide grooves 65 for respectively guiding opposite side portions of the slider 70 are formed respectively at opposite side portions of the slider receiving portion 63, that is, in inner surfaces of opposite side walls of the outer housing 61. Within the slider receiving portion 63, lock arms 66, each having a free end (front end in a connector fitting direction), are formed integrally on the inner housing 62.
A housing lock 68 for retaining engagement with an engagement projection 93 on a female connector (the other connector) 90 is formed on an upper surface of each lock arm 66 at the distal end thereof. An insertion space 66a for allowing the insertion of a pressing rib 92 on the female connector 90 is formed between the distal end portions of the lock arms 66. A pressing portion 69, which is pressed when canceling the fitting connection, is formed on central portions of the lock arms 66.
A pair of retaining arms 67 for temporarily preventing the rearward movement of the slider 70 are provided respectively in opposite side spaces 63a of the slider receiving portion 63 disposed at a rear portion of the housing in the connector fitting direction.
The slider 70 comprises a first slide member 71, a second slide member 76 engaged with a rear portion of the first slide member 71, and compression springs 83 held in the second slide member 76.
The first slide member 71 includes a pair of rearwardly-extending stopper arm portions 73 and 73, which are engaged respectively with front ends of the compression springs 83, and an interconnecting portion 74 interconnecting these arm portions. An abutment portion 75, against which the pressing rib 92 on the female connector 90, can abut, is formed at the interconnecting portion 74. A pair of slide grooves 72 and 72 for allowing the movement of engagement arm portions 78 of the second slide member 76 are formed in opposite ends of the interconnecting portion 74, respectively.
The second slide member 76 has forwardly-extending retaining portions 77. The retaining portions 77 can be engaged respectively with the housing locks 68, formed respectively at the distal ends of the lock arms 66, during a connector fitting operation. A passage notch 77a for allowing the passage of the pressing rib 92 of the female connector 90 is formed between front ends of the retaining portions 77. An operating portion 79, which is pressed when canceling the fitting connection, is formed at an upper portion of the second slide member 76 at a widthwise-central portion thereof, and this operating portion 79 covers the pressing portion 69 of the lock arms 66 in overlying relation thereto.
For assembling the slider 70, the compression springs 83 are inserted respectively into spring receiving chambers 81 in the second slide member 76, and then the stopper arm portions 73 of the first slide member 71 are inserted into the spring receiving chambers 81, respectively. The engagement arm portions 78 are engaged respectively with retaining surfaces 73a of the stopper arm portions 73, thereby combining the first and second slide members 71 and 76 together into a unitary form. The slider 70, thus assembled into a unitary form, is inserted into the male connector 60 from the front side thereof, and is pushed until the rear end of the second slide member 76 is brought into retaining engagement with retaining projections 67a of the retaining arms 67.
The female connector 90 has a housing insertion port 94 open to the front side thereof. The pressing rib 92 for abutment against the abutment portion 75 of the first slide member 71 is formed upright on a housing 91. The pair of engagement projections 93 for respectively elastically deforming the lock arms 66 are formed respectively on both side surfaces of the pressing rib 92 at the front end thereof.
Next, the operation for fitting the male and female connectors 60 and 90 together will be described.
When the fitting operation is started as shown in FIG. 9, the pressing rib 92 of the female connector 90 passes through the passage notch 77a (see FIG. 8), and the front end of the pressing rib 92 abuts against the abutment portion 75 of the first slide member 71.
When the fitting operation further proceeds, the pressing rib 92 of the female connector 90, while pressing the first slide member 71, enters the insertion space 66a (see FIG. 8) between the lock arms 66 of the male connector 60. At this time, the engagement projections 93, formed at the front end of the pressing rib 92, are brought into sliding contact with slanting surfaces of the housing locks 68, formed respectively at the distal ends of the lock arms 66, respectively, so that the distal end portions of the lock arms 66 are displaced toward the housing 91 of the female connector 90. As a result, the distal ends of the housing locks 68 are engaged respectively with the retaining portions 77 of the second slide member 76, thereby preventing the sliding movement of the second slide member 76, as shown in FIG. 10.
When the fitting operation further proceeds, the first slide member 71 is pushed by the pressing rib 92, and therefore is moved rearward. At this time, the engagement arm portions 78 of the second slide member 76 are introduced respectively into the slide grooves 72 (see FIG. 8) in the first slide member 71. Thus, the first slide member 71 is moved while the second slide member 76 is stopped, and therefore the compression springs 83 in the second slide member 76 are compressed, and a restoring force for resiliently restoring the compression spring 83 into its original condition is produced in each compression spring 83.
If the fitting operation is stopped in a half-fitted condition in which the housing locks 68 of the male connector 60 are not completely engaged respectively with the engagement projections 93 of the female connector 90, the first slide member 71 is pushed back in a disengaging direction (opposite to the connector fitting direction) by the restoring force of the compression springs 83. Therefore, the half-fitted condition can be easily detected.
Then, when the fitting operation further proceeds against the bias of the compression springs 83, the engagement projections 93 of the female connector 90 slide respectively past the housing locks 68 formed respectively at the distal ends of the lock arms 66, as shown in FIG. 11. At this time, the lock arms 66 are elastically restored into their original shape. As a result, the engagement of the distal end of each housing lock 68 with the retaining portion 77 is canceled, so that the housing lock 68 is engaged with the rear end of the engagement projection 93. Namely, the male connector 60 and the female connector 90 are completely fitted together, and contacts 64 in the male connector are completely electrically connected respectively to contacts 95 in the female connector.
For canceling the completely-fitted condition shown in FIG. 11, the operating portion 79 of the second slide member 76 is pushed back by the finger or other against the bias of the compression springs 83 to a position where this operating portion 79 covers the pressing portion 69 of the lock arms 66. In this condition, the operating portion 79 is pressed to depress the pressing portion 69, so that the housing locks 68 of the lock arms 66 are displaced downward (in the drawings). As a result, the engagement of the housing locks 68 with the engagement projections 93 is canceled. At this time, the first slide member 71 is pushed forward by the restoring force of the compressed compression springs 83. As a result, the female connector 90 is pushed back in the disengaging direction through the pressing rib 92 abutted against the abutment portion 75 of the first slide member 71.
In the above conventional connector fitting structure 51, the slider 70 is mounted in the slider receiving portion 63 of the male connector 60, and in this condition, the restoring force is slightly produced in the compression springs 83 before the fitting operation is started. Therefore, the retainment of the second slide member 76 by the retaining projections 67a of the retaining arms 67 was sometimes canceled by vibrations or other developing during the transport of the product, so that the second slide member 76 is moved rearward (right in FIG. 9) by the resilient force of the compression springs 83. If the second slide member 76 is thus moved, the second slide member 76 must first be pushed back to its initial position (shown in FIG. 9) when starting the fitting operation, and therefore the fitting operation is cumbersome.
The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and an object of the invention is to provide a connector fitting structure in which a half-fitted condition of a pair of male and female connectors can be positively detected, and besides the fitting operation can be easily carried out.
The above object of the invention has been achieved by a connector fitting structure comprising a first connector having an inner housing opening to a front side thereof, an outer housing covering the inner housing and a lock arm provided on the inner housing;
a second connector fitted and connected to the first connector and having an engagement projection;
a slider comprising, a first slide member for sliding within the connector in a connector fitting direction, a second slide member engaged with a rear portion of the first slide member, and an resilient member for urging the first and second slide members away from each other;
wherein at least one part of the second slide member is engaged with at least one part of the first connector to thereby retain the second slide member in its initial position and a stopper means provided on the fist slide member for preventing the cancellation of the engagement between the parts of the second slide member and the first connector before the connector fitting operation, and
wherein, the engagement projection of the second connector urges the first slider member and deforms elastically the lock arm to thereby prevent tentatively the second slide member from moving, whereby the first slide member is moved relatively to the second slide member and the first connector to thereby unlock the stopper means and disengage the engagement between the parts of the second slide member and the first connector by an abutment of a part of the first connector to the second sliding member in accordance with the connector fitting operation.
In the above connector fitting structure, when the slider is disposed in its initial position where the second retaining portion of the second slide member is retained by the first retaining portion of the one connector before the operation for fitting the male and female connectors together is started, the stopper of the first slide member prevents the cancellation of the engagement of the first retaining portion with the second retaining portion. Therefore, the second slide member can be positively prevented from being moved before starting the fitting operation, and therefore it is not necessary to push the second slide member back to its initial position, and the fitting operation can be carried out easily and rapidly.